In today's race for expression of individualism through an individual's automobile or other vehicle, preferences are expressed through many different forms of enhancement and decoration. These expressions have boasted alumni messages, sports team preference, home state messages and many other similar messages for which individuals have a fondness or personal association therewith and wish to make these preferences known to the public at-large. Frequently, for families with children, this expression may simply be targeted toward creating a positive environment for each child to allow travel in the vehicle to be more attractive and less boring. One example of this expression is the application of labels to windows near the child reflecting a theme of interest.
These individualistic or community messages come in a variety of forms such as bumper stickers or decals applied to the windows of vehicles. They may also come in the form of “vanity” license plates. In addition, expression can be added via the use of seat belt pads that are wrapped around the seat belt and may have various logos and other graphics.
Since people spend a great deal of time in their cars, many tend to treat their car as an extension of their personality. In addition to the types of cars they drive, people often add personalization, as indicated above, to express their beliefs, associations, and tastes to other drivers of the motoring public, passersby, and to other passengers that might occupy the vehicle.
Just as vehicle personalization has experienced growth in recent times, there has likewise been considerable growth in the industry devoted to consumer-personalization of clothing items, such as T-shirts, sportswear and the like. The creation of such personalized items typically takes place using either one of two different techniques, namely, by directly printing a personalized image onto the article of clothing or by printing an image onto a transfer sheet and then transferring the printed image from the transfer sheet to the intended article using heat and pressure. Consumer-personalization via direct printing is typically performed in specialty shops as a “do-it-for-you” approach. According to this approach, a consumer, using an e-commerce web server, sends the print shop a graphic image in digital format, together with information on the selected type, color and size of clothing article. The shop then electronically transforms the graphic image into a standard graphic format and subsequently transmits the formatted image to a direct-to-fabric industrial printer for a final printing. Before shipping the personalized item to the consumer, the shop may use heat-pressing to further fix the image on the article of clothing.
The second method, personalization via image transfer, typically involves the use of a heat transfer sheet as an intermediate holder of a graphic image. The image transfer technique enables consumer-personalization to be performed not only by specialized shops but also by the individual consumer using common household articles, such as a desktop, ink-jet printer for printing and an iron for heat-transfer. Background information relating to the image transfer technique may be found in the following illustrative patents and published patent applications, all of which are incorporated herein by reference: U.S. Pat. No. 7,160,411, inventors Williams et al., which issued Jan. 9, 2007; U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US 2006/0172094 A1, inventors Shi et al., which was published Aug. 3, 2006; U.S. Pat. No. 6,139,672, inventors Sato et al., which issued Oct. 31, 2000; U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,953, inventor Hare, which issued Sep. 27, 1988; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,294,641, inventors Reed et al., which issued Oct. 13, 1981.
The graphic image applied to a heat-transfer sheet may be printed using analog printing techniques or digital printing techniques. Examples of suitable analog printing techniques include letterpress, flexography, gravure, reverse gravure, offset lithography (wet and dry), flat and rotary screen, hot and cold stamping, pens and markers. Such techniques are capable of applying a thick, mechanically durable, graphic image. Examples of suitable digital printing techniques include using common desktop and wide format shop printers, such as ink-jet, toner-based laser, ion or electron charge deposition printing, copy machines, phaser and direct thermal or thermal transfer printers, etc. In general, digital printing techniques result in a much smaller amount of ink or toner being printed. Consequently, if a digital printing technique is used, the transfer sheet typically includes a polymer-based meltable coating (as opposed to lacking such a coating and having the image printed directly on the non-transferable support) as such a coating is used to absorb or to hold in place the graphic image. In certain instances, a combination of both analog and digital printing techniques may be used on a heat-transfer sheet. Despite the growth in using heat transfer sheets for personalization of clothing and other items, the rather permanent nature of components within a vehicle has prevented the use of this technique for personalizing components within a vehicle.
There is a significant existing market for decorative items associated with automobiles and trucks. The estimated 2013 market in the US alone for aftermarket decorative items for automobiles is approximately $234 billion according to the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association. Despite this massive market opportunity, since the advent of seatbelts in vehicles for safety purposes, little has been done to enhance or personalize the appearance of seat belts. To date, the only two methods known for applying decorative components to seatbelts include either seatbelt pads that wrap around the seat belt and are joined with Velcro, or, labels that are actually sewn to the seat belt.
The first personalization method, seatbelt pad, detracts from the streamlined appearance of a seat belt and may interfere with operation of the seat belt. The second quasi-personalization method using sewn labels really does not constitute a method that can be used by the owner of the vehicle. Additionally, sewn labels may impair the integrity of the seat belt and take significant time to attach. Additionally, sewn seat belts generally have labels applied at the manufacturer. Consequently, a consumer would not use the method of sewn attachment to apply decorative graphics to a seat belt. As a result, a consumer is generally limited to only one method of enhancing appearance of seat belts, which is the use of seat belt pads. A purist vehicle enthusiast is likely to reject the use of seat belt pads for personalization for many reasons, including a realization that a seat belt pad is not an “original” piece of equipment associated with the vehicle.
However, for those interested in further enhancing personal expression within the context of their vehicle, the ability to personalize seat belts would clearly be very desirable for a plurality of different reasons.